• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Chinese Government Eases Secrecy, Lets Public Watch Its Space Launch

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By Joe McDonald Associated Press

BEIJING -- At the bustling Beijing railway station, a hush fell over the crowd Wednesday as hundreds of people watched a giant video screen showing the countdown for China's second manned space launch.

A cheer went up as the rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts blasted off from its desert launch pad. Then another as the first stage separated from the rocket. And still more cheers when the Shenzhou 6 capsule with astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng reached orbit.

Two years ago, officials in charge of China's historymaking first manned spaceflight were too worried about accidents to allow a live broadcast. But on Wednesday, a more confident government eased its secrecy and let millions of Chinese share in its triumph.

"I am feeling really emotional," said a construction worker at the Beijing train station, who would give only his surname, Liu. "This is a proud moment -- not only for China, but for Chinese people all over the world, and for humankind."

By Thursday morning, the mission had already exceeded the time spent in space during China's first manned space mission in 2003, when astronaut Yang Liwei spent 21 1/2 hours in orbit. Fei and Nie were preparing to test their capsule's stability in orbit.

The successful launch of the Shenzhou 6 added another success to a costly prestige program that communist leaders hope will project an image of China as a rising technological power.

Adding to its propaganda impact, Chinese viewers were allowed to see the liftoff and live scenes of Fei and Nie in their cockpit. A camera on the rocket hull showed the ground dropping away.

Communist leaders also hope patriotic pride at the space program's success will shore up their standing amid wrenching economic change and public anger at corruption and a growing gap between rich and poor.

President Hu Jintao and other Communist Party leaders were shown watching Wednesday's launch from a Beijing command center, while Premier Wen Jiabao was at the Gobi Desert launch base.

"China's aerospace science experiments are completely for peaceful purposes. It is also a contribution to human science and the cause of peace," Wen said. "We would like, together with the world's peoples, to make progress hand-in-hand for peaceful use of outer space."

The secrecy surrounding the 2003 launch blunted the event's value as a propaganda event. Many Chinese said they felt little connection to the launch, and when the Shenzhou 5 capsule was displayed in Beijing after its return from orbit, it attracted only modest crowds.

But the decision to engage the public by showing Wednesday's launch already appeared to be paying dividends.

At the Xiang Ming Middle School in Shanghai, students in teacher Feng Qiang's science class watched on a projection TV and cheered when the capsule reached orbit. They held up handpainted signs saying, "My heart takes flight," and "Celebrate the successful launch."

"It's a very great day for our country," said 15-year-old Seymour Lee. "It feels like we've been waiting 50 years for it."

The mission this week is expected to be longer, more complex and possibly riskier than the 2003 flight, which carried one person and lasted just 21 1/2 hours.

The government did not say how long Fei and Nie would stay aloft, but news reports said it could be three to five days. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that they had food and water for a week.

State television broadcast updates throughout the day, showing more live scenes of the astronauts -- known in Chinese as yuhangyuan, or "travelers of the universe" -- taking off their bulky, 22-pound spacesuits and moving around their cabin.

Both Fei, 41, and Nie, who celebrates his 41st birthday Thursday, are military officers, former fighter pilots and Communist Party members.

Xinhua said both men talked to their families from orbit.

"May you carry out the task entrusted to you by the motherland and return smoothly," Fei's wife, Wang Jie, was quoted as saying. The report said Nie's wife wished him luck, and "at these words, Nie Haisheng was in tears."

The Shenzhou -- or Divine Vessel -- capsule is based on Russia's workhorse Soyuz, though with extensive modifications. China also bought technology for spacesuits, life-support systems and other equipment from Moscow, though officials say all the items launched into space are Chinese-made.

China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s and fired its first satellite into orbit in 1970. It regularly launches satellites for foreign clients aboard its giant Long March boosters.

Chinese space officials say they hope to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010 and want to launch a space station.

Source: Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

More News in this Category